The Girl in the Attic
by HecateA
Summary: An amnesiac in the attic, a war outside and Silena and Beckendorf in the middle of it all. Oneshot. Written for the Percy Jackson Ship Weeks.


**I think that I dreamed up this piece when I started writing fanfiction three years ago. Yup. But I only made sense of it and gave it character over the summer, and I hope that it's as awesome as I was hoping it to be. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the world and characters of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

* * *

**The Girl in the Attic**

* * *

"Time is an illusion."  
― Albert Einstein

* * *

**September**

Someone rolled her onto her side. She nearly felt like crying, her chest was so tight.

"You're okay," someone said as soon as she squeezed her eyes open. "You're okay sweetheart."

She didn't think so. Tears squeezed out of her eyes as she struggled for breath. Someone pulled her hair out of her face and ran a hand down her arm. She'd been panicking so much a few short seconds earlier that she wouldn't have expected it, but it did help. _A lot._

She rolled onto her back and faced her saviour. The first thing she noticed were the eyes, and from there it was just like a radar. Cornflower blue eyes. Delicate neck. Sculpted cheekbones. Thin eyebrows. Black pin curls. Orange shirt, jean shorts, white pumas. No matter where she looked, the girl was gorgeous. The kind of girl that would make her look down at herself and think _really? This is what _I _get out of the universe?_

Speaking of which… where was she?

"Better sweetheart?" The girl asked with a comforting smile.

She nodded.

"How'd you end up in here? You shouldn't wander alone in the attic it's a dreadful place. How'd you end up on the ground, too?"

"On the ground?" She asked.

The stranger nodded. "Okay, okay. I'm asking too much too quickly, I'm very sorry. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"I…"

She blanked. Well, she didn't blank. She didn't know at all. There wasn't that horrible feeling of having forgotten or failed that came with blanking. It was like she'd never known. But a name… everyone had one of those.

"Sweetheart?" The girl asked again. "My name is Silena. What's yours?"

"I don't know," she said.

"You don't know…" Silena said. "Alright, that's… That's okay. Here, like I said, the attic is dreadful. Come downstairs with me, okay? I promise you'll be safe- it's much nicer there. Much cleaner too."

She was too shaken to do much else than follow Silena downstairs. They passed a rec room where a bunch of kids also wearing orange shirts were playing Ping-Pong or Foosball. The view from the windows showed a wide, green… campground? Yeah, it was a summer camp.

Silena sat her down in a kitchen and deposited a cup of hot chocolate in front of her, encouraging her to drink.

"I have to go talk to someone for just a sec," Silena said putting her hand on hers. "I promise that I won't leave the building. I'll be back super quickly, okay? Quick as I can."

She nodded. Silena offered a smile before going off.

She didn't think it would help, but was proven wrong when the chocolate trickled down her throat and into her stomach. It was warm and comforting.

"Better?" Silena asked when she walked in some more.

"A bit," she admitted.

"Is your memory..?"

She shook her head.

"It was worth a try. Tons of kids drag themselves back to camps with things like that and get fixed by nectar."

"Nectar?" She asked raking her mind. "Like… isn't that the food of the gods? No, drink. But it's the drink of the gods, right? In mythology or something?"

"Right," Silena said cheerfully. "Well, that clears up at least one thing."

"What?"

"That you're a demigod," a man said walking in.

Except it wasn't a man. Not from the torso down at least. It was a centaur.

And thus her world was tipped over and stretched thinly.

* * *

She believed what Chiron told her. She did. It made sense in a weird way, all these words he threw around like 'half-blood', 'Western civilization' and 'Olympus'. But it didn't help her memory.

Chiron asked her if she had a mother or a father that was mortal. She didn't know.

Chiron asked her what was the one thing she couldn't live without. She didn't know that.

Chiron asked her where she was from. She didn't know that either.

The centaur didn't want to overdo it and so he stopped there, telling Silena to take care of her, and to let him know if she remembered anything.

"The gods have a history of stealing memory," Chiron said. "Granted, I'd assume that they would have bigger priorities now- but I've learned long ago to expect very little from them."

Silena had poured her another cup of hot chocolate and she was gobbling it up. If Silena didn't make it so hot, she'd have chugged it.

"I hope that you won't hate me for saying this," Silena said, "But I'd hate to call you nothing. I mean, you're clearly not leaving camp now that we know that you belong here- especially not without any memory. You really are going to need a name. Does that bother you?"

"No," she said. "Not at all." It wasn't as if she had an old identity to be proud of or insulted for.

Silena smiled. "Okay, you're cute so we need to name you something cute…"

"I am?" She said. It felt weird coming from a girl like Silena.

"You are. Gorgeous, to be accurate." Silena said. "Wait- you don't even know how you look do you?"

She shook her head.

"I might sound shallow by saying this- but that's unacceptable! What you look like… It's important. You've got to know what a magnificent creature you're letting the world see. Come with me," she said.

She didn't have much of a choice. Silena all but dragged her to a hallway with a small mirror in it and placed her in front of it, placing her hands on her shoulders. Whatever Silena had called gorgeous, she couldn't really see.

"Not convinced, eh?" Silena asked. "Oh, I hate that about the world. How people just aren't born believing they're lovely… But seriously, look at you. You're beautiful. You've got this thick hair that has this little bounce and your skin is so clear and lovely. Look at how bright your eyes are."

Silena ran her hands through her hair. She wasn't completely a sight for sore eyes, when Silena put it that way. Her hair was on the fence separating black and dark brown. Kinked as if she'd just undone a braid, it tumbled down to her shoulders, which were dainty and scrawny like the rest of her. She had full lips and thin eyebrows, and her eyes were a brown that looked too light for her skin. She had no idea what her background was, but she was ready to guess that she was possibly biracial.

"So, like I said, absolutely gorgeous," Silena said. She pursed her lips and thought. "I like Juliet a lot. When I was little people used to misspell my name all the time or say it in dorky accents, and I wished I had a name like that. Pretty, easy, known. You won't hate me if I give you the name of a tragic character, do you? I know that most of the kids here believe that names have power… but I think that it's really pretty."

She nodded.

"Okay, but I can't be completely tragic."

Silena smiled. "We've got to set you apart then… What about Juliet Eden? Does that work? Very girly, but I think it works."

Juliet nodded.

"We can call you that until we figure out where you're from. The second we know who you are for sure we can change that, I promise, alright?"

"Alright," Juliet said. Juliet Eden without a last name. It wasn't much, but she liked it. It made her feel like even if she was lost, at least there was something that she could start building.

* * *

"Best way to get your bearings around here, memory or no is to look around Camp."

And so Silena gave Juliet the tour. The cabins were quirky and cute, the strawberry fields looked endless even though by this time in the fall they were supposed to be dead, the grass was green, the sky was blue… and so were the people.

Silena's face darkened when Juliet pointed it out.

"We're in a time of war," she said painfully. "You'll hear more about it as you go along… I'm not the best person to explain it."

Most of the camp looked in between two places. The Big House was definitely American, a four-story colonial style house. But right next to it was the stone amphitheater, crumbling a bit around the edges but probably just to give it a look. The cabins were fun and unique, but wheelbarrows full of weaponry paraded in front of them if tired half-bloods weren't dragging their weapons back to them after practise. Kids kicked off their Nikes or Adidas to reveal hooves. The kids wore jeans and armour. Even the goddamn tree – a pine tree- had a touch of myth to it; the Golden Fleece hanging on a branch.

For some reason Juliet knew the feeling of being stretched. Silena elaborated a bit more on her own heritage.

"My mother is Aphrodite," she said.

"Goddess of beauty and love," Juliet said. It made sense.

"That's her," Silena said. She didn't sound particularly thrilled.

"So you're in the pink cabin?"

"Mmm-hmm. I'm actually the Head Counsellor. Wait until you meet my sisters- Lacy's your age and Drew's a sweetheart. You'll get along well with Mitchell too, I think." Silena said. "As long as you don't mind overzealous people and the occasional bad day, they're fantastic."

"That's not a cabin, is it?" Juliet asked, pointing to a big building with several chimneys.

Silena smiled. "Oh no. Come on, let me show you."

She walked right up to the peculiar and rather menacing building and opened the door, allowing a whirl of sensations to hit Juliet smack in the face. There was smoke, the smell of oil and wood chips and burnt metal, the buzz of power tools, the smashing noise of hammers, chattering, laughing, and even some singing.

"The people are messy, but very lovely," Silena said. She held out a hand. Juliet grabbed it and was dragged in.

It was a pretty cool place they had installed. Long worktables took up the ground space, but that hardly mattered because catwalks and ladders and intricate shelving systems existed up above the workers. They wore work gloves and kept their hair out of the way as they tinkered with engines, built the skeletons of houses or furniture, designed prototypes on whiteboards or blackboards or hammered weapons against anvils.

"Glasses," some guy said passing by them with a cardboard box.

"Thank you Christopher," Silena asked grabbing a pair of safety glasses inside. Thankfully she'd snatched two up and handed a pair to Juliet- Christopher had gone by too fast for Juliet to realise that he was talking to her.

Silena grabbed Jessica's hand, told her to stay close, and they wandered into the chaos. But it didn't take long for Juliet to realise that it was all so very organised. They all seemed to be working together as they focused on their own projects- it was mind-blowing.

"The children of Hephaestus," Silena explained. "The God of Craft, blacksmiths and technology. Here's their counsellor."

She smiled at the word, even though the guy she was pointing to wasn't much to smile about. He was huge- even if Juliet weren't that tiny she'd think so. If camp really was in a time of war, they were lucky to have him around. He was strong and fit and when Silena called his name –Charlie- and he turned around; Juliet saw that his face was actually pretty soft and protective too. Not naturally or anything- his face was gruff and serious. But it was something about the way that he looked at Silena. She wondered if they were dating.

"Hey you," he said opening up an arm. The other was busy holding a fidgeting robot by the leg.

"I'm not hugging you when you're holding that thing Charles Beckendorf, don't be insane," Silena said.

"If I let it go, I want a kiss too." He said.

That answered _that_ question, Juliet figured as her cheeks burned up.

"I'll see how good of a hug it is," Silena replied becoming all bubbly and happy at the sound of his voice.

He smiled and dropped the robot in a toolbox and snapped the lid shut. Silena kissed him and Juliet felt a nearly overwhelming awkwardness take over her. They weren't even overdoing it or anything it was just… Weird.

"Charlie, this is Juliet," Silena said. "She's new."

"Morning," he said.

"Charles, it's four thirty."

"Good afternoon," he said again. Silena rolled her eyes despite her smiling, and Juliet smiled too.

"Hi," she said.

"People call me Beckendorf. Claimed yet?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"Is it on your mom's side or your dad's side?" he asked. Juliet scrambled for a second before turning to Silena.

"Special circumstances," Silena said. She mouthed something to him and he nodded. The toolbox started rattling.

"What's wrong with your robot?" Juliet asked.

"I'd say the central hard drive is rubbish, it was taken from another automaton and had horrible attachments to begin with," he said.

"Is that one of the robots made for espionage?" Silena asked. He nodded.

"Kronos' got his spies, we'll have ours," he said. "But I think I'll start from scratch and elaborate with a new design."

"Sounds good," Silena said quietly.

Juliet wasn't really paying attention. She was looking at all the tools on the walls instead. Thankfully anything in the common knowledge and good sense department seemed to have stayed intact in her brain and so she recognised hammers from screwdrivers. It was just the whole identity part of things that had gone downhill.

"What's that?" She asked pointing to a tool she didn't recognise.

"We call it the Digger," Beckendorf said.

"What does it do?" Juliet asked frowning.

"Helps us dig out nails of celestial bronze –the metal we use," Beckendorf said. "It's solid as you can get."

"It's like a pair of pliers," Juliet said pointing out the handle, jaw, nut, spring…

"A dressed up pair of pliers," Beckendorf said. "Sums it up. You know tools?"

Juliet shrugged. "I guess."

"You may be a daughter of Hephaestus," Silena said.

Beckendorf shook his head. "Too dainty. We've all got sturdier builds. But we're not picky about who gets to work in the forges, if you're interested."

"Juliet, do you mind?" Silena asked. "I have to go somewhere."

"Where?" Juliet asked feeling a bit panicky at the idea of Silena leaving her.

"Argue with Chiron about where you're sleeping tonight," she replied. "I think that you can do a little better than Cabin 11."

* * *

Silena picked her up at the forge right before dinner and after an afternoon of watching the others work. Beckendorf was a good teacher, but Juliet was more interested in looking at the way they worked, handled tools, found whatever equipment and parts they needed in the midst of the chaos… And so he let her be and went to do his own thing. She had a feeling that people skills weren't his strong point. It didn't look like his siblings were any more social, but Juliet didn't mind. It gave her time to think and try to figure out who she was.

What did she like? Well, she thought that the tools were cool. But apparently that didn't give her any clues about a possible parent she could squeeze information out of since Beckendorf had said that she didn't look the part for a daughter of Hephaestus.

What was she like? She liked to think that she wasn't a jerk, but she didn't know what kind of personality she had. That was weird.

What did she want in life? Well, right now she'd like her memory back.

It was too complicated to figure out and Juliet just wanted to take it away.

"Chiron and I struck a deal," Silena said.

"What about?"

"Sleeping arrangements," she replied. "See, you should go straight to Cabin 11- Hermes' cabin. He's the patron of travelers. But they're overcrowded at the moment and they're… dealing with some family drama, so to speak."

"So where do I go?"

"The Aphrodite Cabin," Silena said. "Well, I hope. Chiron says that until you get claimed, you can stay as long as Mom says that it's alright."

"How will she do that?"

Silena looked up at the sky. "I don't know, but I'm hoping that she'll get to it soon. Anyways, you're having dinner with us, sign or no sign. I'll introduce you to the gang."

* * *

Clara ran her hand through Juliet's hair.

"It's so thick and gorgeous," she said. "Wow, I'd kill for that hair."

Most of the Aphrodite campers had voiced similar comments as greetings. Juliet had started to settle down though, and she was actually enjoying the gossip. All the chatter and excitement made her smile. Some of the campers really cared for the people they were talking about –they were particularly flipping out about Percy something and Annabeth something-else. According to one of the girls they were the next up since Silena and Beckendorf had finally gotten together.

"Oh gods Juliet, listen to this," Drew said putting down her fork and leaning towards Juliet. "You will not believe how dense Silena was…"

"I wasn't dense," Silena laughed. Most of the table joined her.

"Yes you were honey, I felt like shooting someone," Mitchell said.

Juliet laughed. "You mean, dense about Beckendorf?"

"_Totally," _Drew said.

Juliet liked the Aphrodite cabin. They might be shallow and gossipy, vaguely reminding her of every blond cheerleader on ever sitcom ever, but they did genuinely care about each other. They laughed around like one big happy family. She hoped that she got to stay with them.

Wait- they'd sacrificed food to the gods before the meal. Did praying work with the Greek gods too? Well, Juliet didn't have anything to lose.

_Lady Aphrodite? Goddess of love and other? Your kids look nice. I wouldn't mind staying with them, but apparently I need your blessing for that._

Everyone had their dishes loaded with pastries and cookies and whatnot when a strangled bird cry rang through the pavilion. The ceiling was open and so that's how the bird plummeted right towards the floor.

Silena was the first at its side and Juliet realised why. It was a dove, her mother's attribute.

And it had a knife through its wing.

* * *

"A sign's a sign," Silena insisted as she helped Juliet change the bedding on a bunk. "And one of the chests even has your name on it already. You're staying here."

Juliet nodded.

What else could she do?

* * *

"I'm glad that you survived your first night," Beckendorf said. He was right behind Juliet in the line to the sacrificial flame, glittering proudly in the dining pavillion.

Juliet shrugged. She hadn't slept well.

"I remember when Silena used to drag me over to spend time with her sisters," Beckendorf. "At first it was _hell. _But I guess that your genetics didn't make things awkward."

"And yours did?" Juliet asked.

He shrugged. "Children of Hepheastus... well, if you've ever heard about our dad, he ain't pretty. It's genetic, none of us are pageant kids, let's put it that way. But that's exactly what children of Aphrodite like, beautiful things."

"So how did you end up going out with Silena?" Juliet asked.

Beckendorf only smiled. But it was a smile that Juliet wouldn't forget, so she kind of understood a little bit.

* * *

"Just stick close," Beckendorf said. "Capture-the-flag is never pretty when you're this new."

Juliet nodded. She felt like a total goof and somewhat of a fraud in her armour. It didn't fit right and she had so much trouble moving…

"Where's Silena?" she asked.

"Trying to get her cabin to move it. It's a full-time job, hence why I'm in charge of watching you."

Juliet blushed. "Nobody _has _to be in charge of watching me…"

Beckendorf just bumped his shoulder to hers.

* * *

Lacy was really good at painting nails. Juliet must have looked a bit scared or something, because she snapped out of cartoon characters and fruits and animal prints to paint Juliet's nails gold.

However now she was bored. Most of the cabin was spread out on the cabin's patio, doodling or braiding hair or doing makeup. Juliet didn't feel like talking though, she didn't know how the other kids did it not to run out of breath or get a dry mouth.

She saw Beckendorf walking out of the Big House and her heart leaped. She tugged on Silena's sleeve until she turned away from her conversation with Drew.

"Can I go somewhere?" She asked.

"Where? On your own?" Silena asked.

Juliet pointed to Beckendorf.

"Umm... sure," Silena said. "Sure."

Juliet sprinted away from the porch grinning and caught up to Beckendorf, calling his name for attention.

"Hey Jules," he said.

"Hi," she said. "Umm... I have a... umm..."

"You want to go in the forges, don't you?" he asked.

She frowned.

"I saw your face the other day," he said. "I'm dumb, but I ain't that dumb."

Juliet nodded.

"Sure. Come on," Beckendorf said. "You ever wonder about robotics?"

Juliet nodded. "Actually... yeah."

* * *

**October**

"Hey kid," someone called.

Juliet spun around, feeling jumpy even before she saw who was talking to her. It was two boys from Cabin Five, Kidd and Sherman she thought their names were. Whatever the case, they were scarily good at Capture-the-Flag.

"Do I have to say it twice?" One of them barked. Juliet swallowed hard and shook her head again. She couldn't moved as they walked up to her.

"You've been here for a month, yeah?" One asked. She thought he was Kidd. She'd assume that that's who he was.

"About," Juliet mumbled. She'd seen other kids get beaten to pulp or shoved into toilets. She knew that not answering made things worse.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't know your name still." Sherman said. "Do you?"

The remark was clearly made to be cruel and Juliet's stomach tightened. She'd gotten enough looks when she wasn't with Beckendorf or Silena and she hated them every time.

"Do you?" Sherman pressed.

No, she didn't. Even after a month, she didn't know her name and the feeling sucked. She didn't know her parentage, she didn't know where she fit in, she was absolutely clueless. She was just about to cry but a sudden burst of bravery shot out of her from… somewhere.

_You are _not _going to cry for something like that brute. _

Juliet. Silena had named her Juliet.

_So tell them your name, dummy._

"It's Juliet." She said coldly. "Do you have names, or do I keep calling you Dumb and Dumber?"

Kidd sneered. "Well you're plenty adjusted to camp with a mouth like that."

"Yeah, don't see why you're not initiated…" Sherman said.

Juliet had barely gulped before Kidd grabbed her arm. She tried not to scream and reached for the dagger she kept at her waist, but Sherman slapped her hand away. Then someone slapped him away.

"Really McDermott? Really?"

Juliet gulped. Clarisse La Rue was there, and that was bad news from what she'd seen.

But the daughter of Ares went on.

"Picking on an unclaimed newbie the size of stick who carries a dagger 'cause swords are too heavy for her? Pathetic."

"She's been here a month."

Clarisse shoved Kidd in the shoulder. "Go pick on someone your own size."

"Like you?"

"I said 'your size'," Clarisse said.

Kidd scowled, tugged on his brother's shirt, and both walked off, and Clarisse turned to face Juliet who still wasn't convinced that she was out of the woods.

"You that kid that Silena has under her wing?" Clarisse asked.

Juliet guessed so. She nodded.

Clarisse nodded.

"Take care of yourself," she said. "And by that I mean find a weapon to match your mouth, or shut it."

She walked away, but Juliet realised what a huge favour she'd just been granted anyways.

* * *

Beckendorf grabbed the cardboard box near the entrance to the forge.

"Take a pair," he said. They were full of safety glasses.

"Why?" Juliet asked.

"Because you're in the forge and there's a lot of stuff going on at once," Beckendorf said.

"So?" Juliet said.

"So, I don't want you to lose an eye." He rattled the box.

"You're not wearing any. And you didn't wear any yesterday," Juliet argued.

"Right, because Silena wouldn't kill me if I lost an eye."

"She would."

"Mmm, maybe. But she'd definitely kill me more if you got hurt." Beckendorf said. "She really likes you. She does that, getting attached and stuff."

* * *

"I really am surprised by how much he talks to you," Silena said as they walked out of the forge.

"Yeah?" Juliet asked.

Silena nodded. "He's pretty introverted. He really likes you. Can't blame him," she said rubbing Juliet's back. She nodded.

"Why did you come get me?"

"Chiron wanted to talk to you. About what, I don't know." Silena said.

They walked up to the Big House. The screen door was open. Mr D was playing solitaire on the way in.

"Sophie. Jennifer. What are you two doing here?" he said lazily.

"Chiron asked for us, sir. And my name is Silena, remember? Her name isn't Jenifer, it's Juliet."

"How do you know?" The director asked.

Silena's jaw dropped and she frowned. "Sir!"

"It doesn't matter," Juliet mumbled. Silena shook her head but still walked in with Juliet once she'd held the door open for a while.

"So rude," she said. "He shouldn't make fun of you like that. So, so rude."

Juliet tried to communicate how fine it was through mumbling, but Silena was _pissed. _The only thing that changed was that after they walked into the rec room, she was pissed at Chiron.

"What's going on?" Silena asked, frowning at the mess. She was a bit of a neat freak.

"We're looking through the newspapers," Chiron said. "There aren't any amber alerts since you got here Juliet, and no missing child folders with a picture that matches with your face. But maybe reading some of these ads would help to jog your memory? It's a longshot, but maybe we can find out who you are."

"Chiron, if there isn't any picture…"

"I know, Silena. But the gods are weary of strangers at times like these. Your mother is quite possibly the only reason Juliet is still on the grounds," Chiron said.

"That's preposterous!" Silena said.

"I never said otherwise," Chiron said. "But you've heard enough about the spy to know where they're coming from."

"Juliet can't possibly be the spy!" Silena said crossing her arms.

"And why is that?" Chiron asked. Silena looked away as he turned to look at her. "You know about the War, yes child?"

"Yes," Juliet said.

"And you, Silena, know enough to be aware that everyone is a suspect."

"Yes," Silena said weakly.

"Then you understand," Chiron said. He lowered his voice. "I find it unlikely also, but you know how big the losses have been… At least for appearances, something must be done."

Silena looked away again, shaking her head.

And so she sat down with Juliet and Chiron to try and make sense of everything.

No sense could be made, of course.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Juliet asked, following Beckendorf into the forest. According to what she'd understood, you didn't go into the forest if you weren't playing capture-the-flag and/or heavily armed.

"Not too far," Beckendorf said. "Think it's time you met someone."

"Met who?" Juliet said. "The satyrs? I played volley with one of them yesterday. Who else lives in the woods?"

"An honorary member of Cabin Nine," Beckendorf said as they emerged in a meadow. He brought his fingers to his lips and whistled as if he was hailing a taxi. The ground shook and Juliet quickly understood that it wasn't a taxi that was coming at them…

And it wasn't. It was a dragon with bronze scales and ruby eyes. His body was formed by overlapping bronze plates. His eyes blinked rapidly when he saw Beckendorf. If mechanical dragons could be happy, that was probably what it looked like.

"Hey bud," Beckendorf said.

"That's a dragon," Juliet said stunned.

"Yup," Beckendorf said.

"The dragon likes you?"

"Yup," he repeated. "Don't worry, you're safe. Bronze here wouldn't hurt a fly, unless we tell him to. Here, come on. We can go touch him."

"_Touch him?" _ Juliet gasped.

Beckendorf grinned and that made Juliet relax. The Bronze Dragon wasn't a creature, it was a robot- no, that wasn't the demigod word, this guy was an automaton. He'd been created and given independence- which was pretty cool, come to think of it. He was like those tiny robots that crawled over the worktables only… bigger. Bader. More dangerous. _Way _bigger and _way, way _more dangerous.

"Here, hold out your hand. If I put bolts in it, he'll just lick them up."

"Lick them?" Juliet asked, stunned.

But she was intrigued enough to try.

* * *

Juliet just wanted to go into the forges, but didn't dare wander inside without Beckendorf. That was all. She was _just _looking for Beckendorf.

She hadn't expected to waltz into Cabin Nine, see them pressed against the wall and getting rather grabby.

So she turned red and ran out.

It wasn't until later that day (when Beckendorf told her that Nyssa or Jake would be happy to let her into the forges) that she realised that she hadn't run fast enough, and turned even redder.

* * *

"There you are," Silena smiled when Juliet walked up to them. She'd been hanging out by the basketball court with Lacy and her best friend Pollux, who was pretty cool but usually busy managing the climbing wall. He'd gone on shift, Lacy had a question for Annabeth Chase (the mythology teacher) and so Juliet had wandered.

"You were looking for me?" Juliet asked.

"Just about. Go get a coat in the cabin," she said. "We're taking you out."

"What?" Juliet asked.

"Silena realised-" Beckendorf started.

"_We _realised that you have no memory of anywhere other than camp," Silena said. "So we_ need_ to take you to the city. You can probably get away with borrowing a top from Lacy if you're tired of orange."

"Orange is fine but… what?" Juliet asked. "I thought that we weren't allowed off of camp property."

"Technically there's nothing holding us in," Silena said.

Beckendorf raised a set of keys. "Especially not when you have a driver's licence."

* * *

She was certainly thankful about the coat, if anything. It was _cold _in Brooklyn. She dug her hands in her jacket pockets and wished for gloves.

Beckendorf's Kevlar jacket was buttoned up to his neck and Silena, although wrapped in a flowery red scarf, was still glued to him for warmth. Or it might just be for the sake of cuddling. Suddenly Juliet felt like a third wheel. They probably needed all the alone time they could get, especially in New York… but that trail of thought stopped quickly when Beckendorf asked her if she remembered eating ice cream ever. She couldn't, and so they took a right and walked right into a small, family-owned creamery.

Silena and Beckendorf were both trying to talk her into different ice cream flavours. Silena promised that she couldn't go wrong with chocolate. Beckendorf insisted that she may as well try something cool while she was out in the city- like pumpkin cheesecake. Silena told her not to do it because then he'd just steal a gigantic bite of her ice cream.

She settled on chocolate. Silena approved heavily, and Beckendorf was left alone with cinnamon bun ice cream (whatever that was).

Silena commented that at least this added variety to kissing. Juliet made a very loud 'ewe' sound, making them both laugh. They walked around Brooklyn. It was cold enough without the inside of their mouths being frozen, so they quickly gave up on that idea and ducked back into the car.

"If traffic weren't so nuts, we could drive around," Silena said. "Show you the Empire State Building up in Manhattan, the building Charlie grew up, my dad's shop…"

"That would be cool," Juliet agreed, fighting an ongoing brain freeze.

It would be cool, but she liked sitting in the car with the music and the heating cranked up as much as possible, eating ice cream with Silena and Beckendorf and stealing spoonfuls of each other's ice cream. She didn't know how often demigods did this, and she didn't know how many of them did it at all…

But today felt incredibly special, and for the first time Juliet found herself praying to the gods asking for something other than to be claimed or please-don't-blast-me-here's-part-of-my-meal.

_Thanks for the days like these._

It started to rain.

* * *

**December**

"You can't open it until Christmas," Drew cried.

"I won't, I won't!" Silena laughed setting down the package wrapped in green paper dotted with Christmas trees. "I already know what it is anyways."

"Chocolates?" Lacy asked.

"Probably," Silena nodded.

"Score," Mitchell said in a low, exaggerated voice like a sports commentator.

Silena turned towards Juliet. "Papa always sends two boxes. One I share. One I don't."

Mr. Beauregard wasn't the only one thinking about his child. Postcards, cards, letters and packages were brought in from the city every few days by Argus- even more this year than usually because of all the drama with Kronos' army, apparently.

Juliet nodded at the other stories the children of Aphrodite launched into stories about their dads and Christmas. Really she was feeling a bit heavy-hearted.

Nothing was coming in the mail for her anytime soon. Her problem wasn't that she wanted the stuff; it's that she wanted the meaning _behind _the stuff. The fact that someone drove out to a store, looked at things, picked one you'd like, wrapped it up with some paper while being super careful to fold the edges _just _right…

Something about the holidays made her mind not having a family all over again.

* * *

Annabeth and Malcolm were hunched over the blueprint for today's raid. They had the Apollo cabin with them, and Annabeth and Michael had some kind of deal going for Cabin Six to have an extreme life quality upgrade if the Apollo kids managed to beat the snot out of the children of Ares.

"We'll need three subs for the raid in enemy territory," Annabeth said looking up at their capture-the-flag team.

Juliet raised her hand. Silena lowered it for her.

* * *

Silena put a mug down on Beckendorf's work table.

"Eggnog," she said. "You left too quickly after the counsellor's meeting and I figured that Michael wasn't about to leave you any. That's cinnamon and nutmeg on top, but I wasn't quick enough for the whip cream. The Stolls got it first. Sorry."

"Doesn't matter, cinnamon's my favourite," he said. He leaned forwards and kissed her cheek. "Thanks baby."

* * *

Juliet was buzzing with excitement. She had Silena and Beckendorf with her, the former was holding her hand, the latter was sitting in shotgun next to Argus.

Chiron had found a possible match. A woman named Nora Abena had reported that her two year old daughter went missing ages ago, and nothing had popped up since. The baby girl had disappeared under mysterious, most definitely unnatural circumstances. Chiron recognised her name- she'd been a student of his when he'd posed at a middle school ages ago, and she saw through the mist. This was the closest they'd gotten so far, and Juliet was terrified and excited both at once.

She'd spent hours last night looking in front of the mirror and repeating the name 'Clara'. That had been the baby's name. Did she look like a Clara? Could her name really be Clara Abena? Was her face too wide for her to be a Clara? Did face width _matter?_

Silena ran her thumb over Juliet's hand and didn't let go of it until they were at the apartment, in front of the door.

"You do the honours," Silena said putting a hand on Juliet's shoulder. She nodded, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Nora Abena opened the door. She was a scrawny woman with deep-set, too bright eyes. She wore a blouse and a pencil skirt and ripped stockings that were pinned together to hide the holes, and her hair was cut close to her scalp. Her eyes targeted their weapons immediately.

"Can I help you?" She spoke broken English.

Juliet panicked and looked up at Silena, who took over.

"Ma'am, we're partially investigating the disappearance of your daughter. Clara, if I recall." Silena said.

"What do you know about-?" She stopped short. "Oh. Demigods. Of course. What are you doing here?"

"Ma'am, how old would your daughter be today?" Silena asked.

Nora blinked. "You didn't find her."

"We don't know, ma'am," Silena said. "It's just a possibility that…"

Nora zoned in on Juliet, who'd been quiet and trying to turn invisible. Whoever her godly parent was, it wasn't the god of sudden superpowers.

"No," she said. "Nuh uh. You did not."

"Ma'am-"

"You don't expect me to believe that that's my child," Nora said nodding her head towards Juliet.

"She's the same age, and clearly has some kind of connection to the demigod world- just like you do," Silena pleaded. Juliet was helpless, and Nora's words cut into her. She was in for a whipping.

"That's ridiculous," Nora said. "That's… you three have cruel souls. Damn you. Damn you all. That's not my child. My child is natural."

"Ma'am-"

"I don't know what you've got there, but it isn't a child. It isn't meant to be here."

"Ma'am," Silena pleaded some more.

"My baby girl isn't anything like that," Nora said waving her hand towards Juliet dismissively, "And thank the gods that are good that her daddy ain't white either."

Juliet's entire world crumbled down.

Beckendorf yanked Juliet backwards, towards him, and growled: "Watch it, lady."

The woman jumped back.

"You demigods are cruel. You fail to protect those who get turned into target for no good reason, then come haunting us years later," Nora said.

"This wasn't going to be about demigods and politics. And right now you're being rather cruel," Silena said angrily.

Nora slammed her door. Juliet managed to make it to the stairs before breaking down.

Beckendorf and Silena sat down beside her. Beckendorf didn't do anything, he let Silena do the holding and shushing and reassuring and getting cried into.

"Juliet," Silena said softly. "Shh. Shh. It's okay."

"No," Juliet said. "Didn't you hear her?"

"Yes," Silena said. "We did. She was cruel and racist and I'm glad you have nothing to do with her."

Juliet wasn't glad. She didn't know what she'd expected, but it wasn't this. Insult to injury, you know? A false alarm. She'd thought that everything would click into place today, like a fully formed puzzle was sitting there and waiting for her to wander by. That maybe she could get mail and have stories about home to tell at a campfire and experience to support discussions with.

But, cue the drum roll, no. She had none of that. Who was she? She was nobody. She was a name on a face belonging to a slate of meat walking around the earth like billions of other slates of meat were. Except her particular slab of meat had a pity party surrounding it and sad violins playing in its background, pushing people away and drawing protectors forwards.

She couldn't bear it. She got up and ran.

* * *

She didn't know how she'd done it. She imagined that her adrenaline was high and that neither of them were expecting it, because Beckendorf only got close to catching her by the hood once before she slipped away for good.

She burst through the doors and ran down the street. She didn't know where she was going or what sidewalk she was following. She was taking random turns and swerving strangers and blinking back tears that would freeze on her cheeks- that's what she was doing.

She got lost in the crowd. It didn't feel too bad at first, being lost. It felt like every day. She found an alley that didn't look too sketchy, sat down, and bawled. Bawled like a baby. She'd gotten a head start on the waterworks, dampening Silena's shoulder and all, and her butt got cold- so it wasn't long before she got up and walked around. It was snowing. Snowflakes were catching in her hair. She tilted her head back and swallowed one, getting in a very important and hurried and probably caffeinated businessman's way.

There were art galleries all around her. She didn't know what part of New York that meant she was in, but there was nowhere to go in and she wasn't wearing gloves.

* * *

She hadn't gotten hungry for lunch, nor had she gotten hungry for supper. However it was getting dark and even colder. That was a bit more of a problem. And not only for her, but she also had the distinct feeling that Silena would flip out if she spent a night out in New York City on her own. Gods, she must be fuming...

She cursed herself. Camp had a phone, but she didn't know the number. That seemed like something so important to know, she should have written it on her forehead. She didn't have any drachmas with her, so the idea of an IM was out... Besides, how was she supposed to make a rainbow when all the water available to her was frozen?

Juliet headed inside the first open store she found, a hardware pawn shop. The place wasn't exactly clean, but the bins of stuff made her think of the forge which was cool. The guy at the counter wouldn't look up at her and she was fine with that, so she looked around, trying not to be too noisy as she dug around –not that anyone was there to mind.

The bell at the door rung again.

"-_hours," _a girl stressed.

"I know."

"We can't leave her in the city, she doesn't remember anything about the outside world- do you have any idea how _dangerous _that would be?"

"I know," the guy said again. "Calm down baby, calm down. This is the closest phone we have," a gruff-sounding guy said. "My dad's basically patron of these places. They'll let me use it. We just have to call camp and Chiron will know what to do."

Juliet peaked around a display shelf of used assorted door hinges (all 0,25$ each).

Silena and Beckendorf were standing in the door of the shop, Silena brushing snowflakes from her shoulders and Beckendorf looking for someone in charge.

The guy at the counter had disappeared.

* * *

Her head was on Silena's shoulder as they drove back to camp. She had Beckendorf's jacket around her, he'd insisted.

Silena wasn't chastising Juliet on how she shouldn't have run away. She wasn't telling her how scared they'd been. She wasn't asking her what could possibly have gone through her mind. She was brushing Juliet's hair back and making Beckendorf carry her over to Cabin Ten once they got back to camp.

Just as Juliet was about to fall asleep, Silena very quietly pulled the blankets over her and tucked her in. She kissed Juliet's forehead.

"If you don't have a family for the holidays," Silena said, "That's okay. Just… settle for us next time alright? This cabin, this camp… at least your siblings are here. Don't worry."

She kissed Juliet's forehead again.

"And there is nothing unnatural about you, Juliet. You are what you are, not what other people call you."

Needless to say, she slept well.

* * *

**January**

Juliet stepped back.

"It's set," she said. It was more like a squeak. This was her first try, and she was pretty nervous about it.

Beckendorf nodded. He wasn't going to make her stand behind him. She grinned- at least after a few months he'd loosened up her using the forge. She still had to wear the safety glasses though, that was non-negotiable. She'd tried though.

Juliet flicked the switch on the remote she was holding. The little automaton was shaped like a scorpion and covered in silver and a black metal that Beckendorf had called Stygian iron. It switched on, and its tiny legs scrambled back and forth like oars.

"Perfect," Beckendorf said appreciatively. She gave it more directions, having it walk in zigzags, circles, and even roll over. "Try the tail."

That was the part Juliet was sweating about. The wiring was pretty delicate down there, and she'd been scared of damaging it when she'd plated the tail.

But when she pushed the button the scorpion's hooked tail lashed forwards and recoiled as planned.

Juliet nearly dropped the remote when she'd cheered. Beckendorf clapped her on the back. The automaton hadn't even gone a _little _evil! On her first try!

"Awesome," he said. "May I?"

Juliet nodded and Beckendorf put his hand out on the table. Juliet guided her little automaton into her palm. He looked it over with an expert eye.

"You know, if you'd add a camera somewhere in here… maybe got the tail to recoil a little more quickly… poisoned the hook if you got really into it…"

"Yeah?" Juliet asked.

"This could be a pretty good bug to spy with," Beckendorf said.

Never had Juliet been prouder.

* * *

**February**

Lacy and Pollux had grabbed Juliet the second she'd emerged from the forge, where she was perfecting her scorpion on most days. Now they were just walking around Camp. The evening was getting chilly and so Juliet excused herself to run off and grab her jacket from the forges.

However the children of Hephaestus had left it, probably to work in the cabin. Because of all the espionage technology and experimental weapons in there nowadays, it was locked- and not by a lock that could be picked with a bobby pin, Juliet knew it for a fact. Beckendorf had a ring of master keys and he'd be willing to lend them to her, so she went to find him.

It was totally by accident that she found The Spot. She'd just been cutting through the woods because Miranda had told her that she'd spotted Silena going to Zeus' fist, and wherever Silena was hanging out was a decent guess as to where Beckendorf was during free time.

Anyways, she heard Silena laughing and so wandered off the trail. Not a great idea, but Juliet had a knife with her and she was getting pretty cold.

She peaked between two trees. A giant oak, even bigger than most trees in the forest, was standing in a meadow and a wooden swing dangled from its branches. Silena was sitting on the swing and Beckendorf was pushing her. He was elaborating about a new, more efficient design they'd found for a robot and Silena was asking a load of questions to try and follow, and being excited with him at the least.

Juliet ducked away.

This was their spot, hidden in the forest. She probably shouldn't know that it existed, so the idea of intruding just felt too rude.

She stole a jacket from Lacy's chest in the cabin instead.

* * *

It was Valentine's Day, so Juliet had done the wise thing.

She'd spent the day in the woods along with some other single people to spare herself. Going looking for anyone who was remotely romantically involved with anybody at camp? Forget it. Going after Beckendorf and Silena? Forget them, they'd be glued at the hip (possibly more) for the day.

They ate chocolate-themed food, including some interesting choices of things to dip in chocolate that Mitchell had thought were a good idea. They watched old time movies that Juliet loved.

* * *

"Nice ring," Drew said offhandedly at supper. "Is it what I think it is?"

Silena smiled. Juliet hadn't seen her all day, but she was glowing.

"What do you think it is?" She said.

"I think it's a promise ring," Drew said in a sing-song voice.

"You are correct," Silena said picking up on the same tune.

Drew gasped and got up. They hugged over the table. Juliet stretched her neck to sneak a peek at Silena's hand. She'd watched Beckendorf make it and had been aggressively sworn to silence. A ton of Mordor jokes had been made about that ring. "We're taking the children of Aphrodite to Isengard!"

Anyways, the ring was a thin silver band lined with tiny diamonds. Juliet wondered if Beckendorf had shown her the special feature yet or if Silena had jumped him too quickly once she got the ring.

Each stone could be removed from the ring, and once streaked with sunlight each stone would project its own picture. How Beckendorf had done that one, Juliet had no idea- but he really could make beautiful things. That was probably why he and Silena got together in the first place.

* * *

"What do you think you're doing?"

Juliet turned around to Beckendorf's raised eyebrow.

"Oh, come on…" She whined.

He sighed. "Fine. If you're not going to wear the box' glasses, then at least wear these," he said unclipping a pair from his tool belt and handing it over. "Keep them. You may as well keep a pair."

* * *

**March**

Silena was fretting over Beckendorf, fixing his jacket's collar again and again, tugging on it, smoothing out his shirt, hiding his Camp Half-Blood beads under his top… Juliet couldn't really see a point to it, nobody could. But if this was how Silena could feel better about her boyfriend riding off on dangerous adventures with the likes of Percy Jackson and Will Solace, then so be it. Juliet knew that that was why Beckendorf stood so still while she fretted.

He clapped his siblings on the back before leaving and even winked at Juliet. He patted his pocket and a little silver and black automaton crept out.

She smiled despite herself. Tons of spying devices were going in and out of camp regularly, and now the KataScorpion was one.

* * *

They were playing tug-of-war with Festus.

This meant that they had an enormously long rope with one end in Festus' mouth, and the rest of Cabin Nine with some Cabin Five campers on the other.

* * *

Drew put a pin in the lace.

"Ouch!" She said. "Not you, Drew- Lacy."

"Sorry love, there's a lot of fabric to work with," Lacy said.

Lacy had scored Comic Con tickets because of one of her superhero cosplays, and she was deadest on making an even better costume that year.

She was dressing up as a ghost from a television show that Juliet just couldn't get into no matter how contagious Lacy's energy usually was. It had become a cabin-wide project to help Lacy out. Juliet had seen Silena pop a few buttons off of her blouse in the morning and drop them in Lacy's palm in the afternoon, saying that she'd found them in the Big House.

Since they were about the same size, Juliet was the model.

The dress was a white wedding gown, and row and rows of pinned up white velvet descended down the skirt. The bodice was the beautiful part, the part that nobody but Lacy touched. It was made completely out of lace, each frill lined with silver or crimson by hand. White buttons with gold rims that Lacy had tarnished with some kind of chemical (that may or may not cause her children to have three eyes) ran down the back. Ribbons criss-crossed over the front of the corset. There was a whimsy hat with little birds dotting it, except all the birds were in various degree of decomposing. There was a veil made out of spider webs.

It sounded like a lot, but it was really pretty. Lacy had experienced with makeup and found a very specific of grey, silver, black and whites that made her face look like ash too.

"You did a really good job Lacy," Juliet said.

Lacy beamed. "You think?"

"Uh huh," Pollux said. He had absolutely no talent for these kinds of things and no clear way to help, but as a true friend he was right there with them in the cabin.

"Couple of things to sew down and you're good to go," Drew said backing up. "I have to agree with them."

Lacy beamed.

"You'll be the best Genevra in San Diego," Juliet said.

Lacy's response was in the form of a crooked smile. Comic con was in the summer, and because of how chaotic everything had been getting… well, she hadn't been sure if she'd go.

But Silena had explicitly forbidden Lacy to return the tickets after dreaming about holding a pair forever, and so on with the costume making they'd gone.

* * *

**April**

Silena laughed and Juliet frowned as she sat down at dinner, a little later because of some final tests to be done.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"You've come a long way from never wearing safety glasses to keeping them on permanently," Juliet said.

Drew grinned as well. "Interesting look."

Lacy pawed at Juliet's hair and her safety glasses toppled down to her nose.

* * *

Pollux wanted to go hike around the forest, and stop at Zeus' fist. Yesterday had been his first birthday without his brother, and they hadn't seen him all day.

Lacy and Juliet had agreed but they ran to grab hoodies from their cabin first because the flies were horrible this week.

She walked into Cabin Ten and froze.

Silena and Beckendorf only looked up.

"What? I sprained my wrist," Silena said defensively.

"And have a boyfriend with the patience of an angel," Beckendorf said between gritted teeth as he painted her nails for her.

Lacy made a low squealing sound.

* * *

Juliet brought her hands to her mouth and blew. The automaton took off from her palm and circled around the forge. It landed on Nyssa's shoulder. She held out her finger and the dragonfly walked on.

"You're getting good," Nyssa said looking at the detail in the critter's wing. "It took me forever to master flight."

"You never liked automatons though, save the dragon maybe," Beckendorf said.

"No. Call me crazy for not appreciating killer robots after growing up with a scie-fie writer," Nyssa said. The bug climbed up her sleeve and onto her other shoulder. "But I like these. And they're beautiful as ever."

* * *

"Silena! Juliet!" Beckendorf said pushing through Cabin Ten's door.

Silena spun around, eyes wide. Rarely did any camper ever come into Cabin Ten, much less Beckendorf. It was actually funny to see a big guy like him surrounded by so much pastel.

"What?" She asked.

"I got in," he said raising a fist in which he'd crumpled a letter.

"To NYU!" Silena gasped.

She threw her arms around his shoulders and he spun her around, both of them ecstatic.

* * *

**May**

Silena only kept her hand on Juliet's forehead for seconds.

"You're not going anywhere today," she said readjusting Juliet's covers.

She must have made a face to show how grumpy she was about a) being sick and b) being alone, because Silena added:

"Neither am I."

* * *

She hadn't thought that her stomach was going to keep anything down, the bucket was next to her bunk for a reason, but Silena insisted. The soup did stay down, and the Gingerale was at least helping a little bit. And Juliet wasn't about to say that Silena's soft voice, reading from her favourite comfort book that was quickly becoming Juliet's, wasn't helping her feel better either.

* * *

Juliet never did it on purpose but she had a knack when it came to walking in on people.

For example, she walked into Cabin 9 looking for Nyssa. Silena had her arms wrapped around Beckendorf's waist and her head against his back. There didn't seem to be an apparent reason. His sister Teresa had passed away last week. It was just a hug

It was always the sweet moments.

* * *

"I couldn't talk Annabeth into switching Cabins 7 for 10," Beckendorf said. "Sorry."

Silena sighed. "It's okay, we'll manage."

Beckendorf turned to Juliet. "Be _super _careful tomorrow night. When Cabins 5 and 6 are on the same team and you're not on that team…"

"Be even _more _super careful than you guys always tell me to be?" Juliet said. It was meant to tease, but they both immediately snapped: "Yes."

* * *

**June**

"Hey, Juliet?"

She turned around and faced Pollux.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he said. "Umm, listen… you hang out with the Aphrodite girls, right? You hear stuff…"

"Right," Juliet said. Gossip had started to bore her now that she'd gotten used to the freaking high energy level of Cabin 10, but she did catch some of it.

"Right…" Pollux said with a sigh. "So, listen. If I were to ask a girl out to the fireworks… how should I do it?"

"Is this about Lacy?" Juliet asked.

"Maybe." Pollux said.

Juliet grinned.

"Stop," Pollux whined.

"Sorry," she said resorting to her usual smile. "I think just telling her straight out will be alright. Tell her that you want to go see the fireworks with her. Oh, but because you're friends, make sure that she knows that it's a date. Well, no, Lacy isn't thick or anything…"

"Okay," Pollux said looking a bit disoriented. "Okay, thank you."

* * *

**July**

Someone cleared their throat behind her.

Juliet didn't have to turn around to know that it was Beckendorf; she just lowered her glasses over her face.

* * *

It was nearly impossible to get out of camp and come back alive nowadays, much less go to public places.

Lacy sold her Comic Con tickets online.

Never had Juliet held someone more tightly.

* * *

"You just have to take a tiny strand from the outside of each braid and cross it over," Silena said. "Do you see what I'm doing?"

Juliet looked in the mirror and nodded, the principle of fish braids not implanted in her head.

"Is war really coming _this _summer?" Juliet asked.

Silena froze in the mirror and didn't reply for a while.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe."

Juliet chewed on her lip. She didn't fight a lot. The Aphrodite Cabin wasn't too great to do combat training with, and she'd made no effort to go to the extra lessons. Her stomach was in knots. If it came, was she ready? She didn't think so.

Silena dropped the braid and put a hand on Juliet's shoulder.

"Juliet, listen to me," she said. "You will be fine. You will come out of this war in one piece. Do you understand me?"

Juliet nodded but something in her stomach told her to know better than that.

* * *

**August**

"Be back soon," Beckendorf called to everyone in the forge.

"Mmm-kay, be careful," Nyssa said.

"I will."

"Also don't forget to-"

"Hold the switch down while I connect the wires- yes, I know." Beckendorf said. "It's just a bomb. Easy as one, two, three. Right Juliet?"

"Right," she said. "See you soon."

* * *

She squeezed her way through the crowd. When they saw that it was her, some people actually let her go by.

Chiron had his arm on Silena's shoulder.

_Easy as one, two, three, _he'd promised in the forge.

Silena's entire posture looked wrong, as if the world had gone sideways. "No. No. _No." _

She burst into tears and Juliet's heart sunk. She'd just come because she'd been sent out when she'd heard the conch horn, Jake wanted to know how effective the explosives had been compared to the usual ones.

Clarisse was the first to break through the crowd. She put her arms around Silena.

"Come on, girl," she said. "Let's get to the Big house. I'll make you some hot chocolate."

In twos and threes, everyone walked away.

Juliet wanted to walk right up to Percy Jackson, even though he scared the life out of her and looked exhausted, shove her finger in his chest and demand details. She wanted to know what had gone wrong, what excuse the universe possibly had for screwing Camp over on that particular day, what had happened- every single second of what had happened.

But she ran to the Big House instead, shot through the halls and took a right to the kitchen.

Silena was sitting at the table. Her tangled hair was falling over her face, which was hidden in her hands anyways. Her legs were folded underneath her. She looked miserable; as miserable as miserable could get.

Clarisse turned around as soon as Juliet's running footsteps paused in the door frame. Her eyes were probably all watery and puffy and gross but she didn't care. Not at all. Because Beckendorf…

"Do I need to get a second mug out?" Clarisse asked.

Juliet bit her lips and nodded.

* * *

She walked into the forge after supper.

Nyssa's eyes were puffy.

Jake looked pale as a ghost.

Christopher's eyes were glazy and his cheeks were wet.

Shane was nowhere to be seen.

Juliet fit in.

They were the last four children of Hephaestus at camp.

It was only a few minutes after she'd sat next to Nyssa that she realised that her glasses weren't on, and that nobody was telling her to put a pair on.

She could probably run through the forges naked holding scissors now.

* * *

Juliet curled up in Silena's bunk that night.

She felt like a child, but only for a second before Silena wrapped an arm around her and took a deep breath to stabilise herself.

Maybe she needed the company too.

* * *

Silena mustered enough courage to say this much before the battle really began:

"I believe in all of you just as hard as I believe in what is right," she said. She'd been a nervous wreck, and nobody really wanted her on the battlefield at the moment, but she went on. "We can do this. If not for victory, like the rest of the cabins are doing, then for those we love."

Juliet could mentally replace _those we love _with _Charlie_.

Drew's eyes got fierce and Lacy mouthed 'Pollux'.

For the first time ever the Aphrodite cabin was in the mood for a fight. No, not a fight. A goddamned bloodbath.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Juliet asked Silena. She was leading a Pegasi out of the elevator, which may have seemed strange but their headquarters for now was the Plaza Hotel.

"Back to Camp," she said. She looked sick.

"What? No, the cabin needs you!" Juliet said.

"Drew can take over, I already talked to her. I have a plan to get the Ares campers back." Silena said.

"Are you sure? Clarisse looked pissed."

"Yeah, well, I'm pissed," Silena said. "We'll see it it's equivalent."

If anyone could talk sense into Clarisse, it was definitely Silena.

"Can I walk you to the roof?" Juliet asked.

Silena grimaced for a second, hesitated and nodded. They led the Pegasus down the hall. Most of the room's doors were wide open to facilitate finding people and provisions and medics. Juliet heard sighing and sobbing, snoring and chatting, and even some giggling. Those rooms were the ones she wanted to get into, but they were in the minority.

The Pegasus really didn't appreciate being led up the tiny stairwell. It took someone pushing and someone pulling, and the whole endeavor seemed so ridiculous that in the heat of the moment, right after so many terrible things had collapsed over her at once- Juliet laughed. Silena smiled faintly.

On the roof, Silena ran her hand over Juliet's cheek.

"Make it quick," Juliet said.

"I'll try," she said. "Take care, Juliet. Don't get hurt okay? I… just don't."

"Okay," Juliet said.

"Stay with Drew, okay? Or Lacy."

"Okay." Juliet said.

"Always stay with someone," she said.

"Okay."

"Don't wander alone. You understand?"

"Yes, mother." Juliet said jokingly, to try and make her laugh. Silena's insistence was eerie, but Juliet had seen her face when Mitchell's ribs had been revealed smashed. She was just projecting the protectiveness she felt for Beckendorf on her cabin. That's what Juliet figured was going on.

Silena mounted the Pegasus and took off.

* * *

Juliet's heart was racing. She was limping as she jogged down a street on Olympus, but she didn't stop until she reached Clarisse.

"Clarisse," she kept calling. Clarisse ignored her until she cried, "Clarisse, it's Juliet!"

Then she turned around. The red glow around the daughter of Ares persisted. The scratches on her cheeks looked like nothing. Her eyes were furious.

Juliet halted a bit.

"What happened to you, kid?" She asked zoning in on Juliet's bad leg. Her voice was hoarse, as if from screaming.

"Stabbed," Juliet said. Her voice melted like butter in the microwave. "What happened to Silena?"

Clarisse's chin tilted upwards a bit.

She opened an arm, and Juliet knew that all of the rumours were true.

* * *

What had Silena been doing in the attic on the day she'd found Juliet, when she'd clearly said that it was a horrible place?

Now she had a faint idea.

Why had Silena excused herself from meals more than once, or had several people looking for her at once?

Now she knew.

What did betrayal feel like?

Now she knew.

What did mourn feel like?

That she'd already known.

She blinked away tears from her eyes. Dear gods, Silena had been the one to give her a home and introduce her to Beckendorf and teach her how to do fishtails…

She ripped her hair out of its braid and blinked some more, her head against the cool armour of Clarisse's breastplate.

* * *

"Listen, you were like a little sister to her," Clarisse said. "I can't let you get hurt. Go find a medic, and tell them that I sent you to get some ambrosia for that leg."

"Nobody knows my parentage. They don't know how much to give me, it's dangerous," Juliet said.

"Kid like you? You're not mortal. Silena always said so. Fix your leg, grab a bite to eat- not just the sugary crap that the younger kids are eating, the healthy stuff that'll give you energy- and hit the hay for a while."

Juliet only nodded.

* * *

She locked her jaw when she saw the hot pink shroud in the middle of the arena- the one that couldn't belong to anybody else, no matter how many of her siblings had passed.

Then she started crying, because she couldn't be mad. Truth be told, Juliet would have done the same thing as Silena had if someone she loved as much as her big sister had loved Beckendorf was frightened. She may not even have been brave enough to tip the scales with her life in the end.

It didn't make anything okay, but it kind of turned the rumbling of Juliet's emotions down a notch.

A bit.

Truth be told, her insides felt absent and her emotions felt far away, as if someone had said 'nope, that is too much to handle' and had pulled a few crucial cables out.

The feeling never left. Not in an emotional way, though. Juliet was literally sick.

* * *

The mood sucked around the forges.

The dragon had run off.

As if confirmation that Beckendorf was dead and that everything had changed had been needed.

* * *

**September**

Juliet tried to close the door quietly.

"Can't sleep?" Drew whispered. Juliet jumped out of her skin, but didn't ask what was keeping Drew insomniac and out of the cabin.

"I've got a headache," she said.

"Still?" Drew worried.

Juliet nodded. "I wanted some air."

"I'll sneak over to the Big House and grab you some Advil." Drew said getting up. "Let's see if that'll help."

Juliet nodded, and regretted not asking the second that Drew left.

* * *

Lacy was spending more and more time sketching.

"If I win Comic Con tickets again," she explained when Juliet saw the gender-bent superhero sketches, "Nothing can stop me this year."

Pollux kissed her hair in encouragement.

* * *

Juliet tugged Drew's sleeve during the campfire.

"What's wrong?" Drew asked in a whisper.

"I want to go back to the cabin."

"Why?" Drew asked.

"Everything's too loud," she said.

She must have had a funny look in her eyes because Drew sent she and Lacy back.

* * *

It was stupid but grief didn't turn people into geniuses.

She was looking for Beckendorf and Silena's spot. The spot she knew that they went to when they dissapeared in the woods. The one with the swing.

She sat down on the wooden swing when she found it. It wasn't super comfortable, but she could imagine Silena not minding and sitting on it for hours, just because Beckendorf had made it and that being on it meant that he was with her.

She heard rustling in the trees.

It was impossible to know what kind of creature hung out in the forest and how decked out it would be in the sharp extremities department. She drew her knife and ran in the opposite direction.

But apparently she hadn't been the only one to come to the spot looking for comfort, because the dragon was the one to burst into the meadow.

She held her breath. When they'd gotten back to camp after the Battle, the dragon had tried to bite Christopher. It had not responded to any child of Hephaestus with an attitude that could be classified as 'friendly', and had even burned Nyssa's bandages right off of her skin. It was wild now, they all said so. An automaton gone mad.

But when the dragon looked at Juliet… It made a pathetic little creaking sound. Its eyes even dimmed a bit. It looked… sad.

And then it ran off. On the dragon's way out its tail, like a whip, sliced the branch the swung hung off right off the tree.

She never told a soul.

* * *

Juliet had never woken up more confused, except maybe that time in the attic.

"Where..?"

"She's up," someone gruffly called out. When Juliet had finally recovered her bearings, she realised that she was in the infirmary. And she had visitors.

Lacy cocked her head. "Hi. Earth to Juliet…"

"Roger that," Juliet croaked. Her throat was dry.

"You okay kid?" That was Clarisse. She was standing a bit farther than Lacy, Jake and Pollux were, but she was there nevertheless.

"Why am I here?" She asked.

"You don't remember?" Lacy asked, alarmed. "You passed out. You'd been complaining about a headache last night, but you'd that for a couple of days before. We thought it was nightmares and sleep but… no. You just… we all got out of bed this morning and you collapsed on the way to breakfast."

Juliet couldn't fish the memory out of her foggy brain. It all seemed like one big foggy soup, but Clarisse, Lacy, Drew and Jake all looked pretty worried.

"I'm glad you're alright," Jake offered.

Juliet nodded.

* * *

Her fainting spells were repetitive.

They became daily after the 12th. She could go up to two a day. For the first week or so, Chiron suggested that PTSD was afflicting her. It wouldn't surprise anybody, tons of demigods were feeling the weight of it.

Then she started convulsing as she passed out. Epilepsy was brought up and deemed likely as Juliet just sat and nodded and tried to be a good patient for Chiron because being sick _sucked _and nobody was there to read from Silena's comfort book for her anymore.

But the bubbles attacked. That's right. Black blobs floated across Juliet's eyes and the only way to make it better was to grin at Pollux' half-hearted jokes about the bubbles attacking.

Quick recap: headaches, weightless feeling, fainting spells and bits and bobs floating all around the world around her.

Quick recap: everything sucked.

* * *

They were supposed to meet at the strawberry fields after Pollux' shift managing the climbing wall- to go in the forest or the lake or whatever.

Lacy and Pollux were holding hands when they got there. Juliet could only grin, and they could only blush.

* * *

She got out of bed. Or at least tried very hard.

Her head hurt but she ignored it as per usual. She sat up and got up. Pain immediately shot behind her eyes. She bent in two wincing. The children of Aphrodite turned to look at her. Mitchell dropped from the top bunk and caught her, helping her get to the ground safely.

Drew leapt into action. She told everyone to give Juliet some room and move away except for Mitchell. He grabbed Juliet around the waist and picked her up. Drew got her legs, Lacy held the door, the other kids were told to get dressed and go on with the day, and Juliet was at the Big House before she knew it- spending the day with Chiron, Will Solace, a very scared Lacy and an equally terrified Pollux.

They had a mixture of 1 part nectar, 10 part water being fed to her intravenously- it was just to be on the safe side since she still wasn't claimed, even after the pact that the gods had made. Even she was starting to wonder if she was a demigod- but at the moment they had bigger problems than that to spend time on when it came to Juliet.

The drink of the gods didn't help and so everyone was understandably uneasy, Juliet included. Chiron told her to stay in the infirmary for the day and the night just in case.

About halfway through the day, Jake, Drew and Clarisse materialised. They stood in the background muttering with Chiron for a while before leaving.

* * *

She was lying in bed when she felt something crawling up her leg. She stretched her neck and saw the dragonfly going up her leg.

"They missed you," someone at the door said simply.

Nyssa was holding onto a cardboard box. She could hear the KataScorpions that'd made it through the war or never been used, the bird, and the various bugs were all crawling in it.

Juliet smiled.

* * *

She was halfway up the climbing wall when the world snapped out of focus.

Thank gods that she wasn't bouldering on a freelance wall, and that Pollux, basically Master of the Climbing Wall, was there as her spotter.

She woke up twenty minutes later on the ground.

* * *

Juliet woke up and so many bubbles were floating around the air that she thought she'd gone blind. She panicked and fell off of her bunk.

Mitchell and Drew carried her out again.

Clarisse was waiting outside, as if expecting it, and took over for them.

* * *

The last straw was when she started walking crooked and reaching out for things inches from where they actually were.

Well, the last straw was a few days after that when she fell down about half of the amphitheater after a camp-wide meeting on the bubble gum policy.

Chiron told her to rest up for that day, and the next Argus would drive her to a doctor in the city.

Juliet was terrified.

Clarisse sat on the foot of her bed and put her hand on her knee. She didn't have any fantastic abilities when it came to small talk and reassurance, but at least she was trying.

"Will you come with me tomorrow?" Juliet asked.

Clarisse nodded. "Wouldn't let anyone else take you, kid."

* * *

Juliet blanked out while getting dressed, and the only thing that woke her up again was the commotion outside. She thought back to the Battle of Manhattan and panicked a little. She managed to stumble to the window, dropping her knife in the process, to check out what was going on outside.

Most of the campers were recoiling from flocks of people dressed in greys and whites. They ran around camp minding their own business, but when one of them walked by the cabin chasing a friend, Juliet didn't recognise him. Campers in orange shirts huddled in groups and pointed at them, crept out.

Drew was in the cabin within minutes, putting away a knife.

"Don't worry about outside," she said seeing Juliet in the window. "Sit down, you'll overdo it."

"Who are those people?" Juliet asked, squinting. She felt like she should know them.

"We don't know," Drew said. "Funny thing is: they don't know who we are either."

To Juliet's insistence, they stayed at the window and watched (it totally counted as compromise since Drew refused to let Juliet go outside as long as the strangers were there). Drew recounted how they'd just appeared out of nowhere and were running around. They didn't stop what they were doing if someone called them, touched them…

A few minutes later a dark man in robes appeared out of nowhere, tailed by Nico di Angelo. Juliet recognised him; Hades, god of death. Her brain felt like it rolled over in her skull and Drew had to put a hand on her back to keep her steady. The god surveyed the grounds, snapped his fingers, and that was that- the mysterious figures were gone. He turned to Nico, said something approvingly and disappeared.

"I wonder what that was about," Juliet said quietly.

Drew nodded. "I'll tell you if I find out."

Clarisse walked in a few minutes later.

"Sorry I left you alone kid," she said. Her sword wasn't fully inserted into the scabbard. "My services were possibly needed out there, I had to. You ready to go?"

The doctor, New York…

Juliet managed something like a nod that didn't make her head feel like it'd rolled off her body. Drew wished her luck and went to find the rest of the cabin, leaving her to put on a clean pair of jeans and a shirt that wasn't camp-related for safety purposes. Clarisse wrapped her in a blanket and escorted her out. They were intercepted by Malcolm.

"Counsellor's meeting," he said plainly.

"Go find Sherman and tell him not to be a tool," Clarisse said. "I'm busy."

But of course Malcolm was a son of Athena and wasn't scared of her much.

"Chiron said to find you in particular," he said. "I'm sorry. Don't shoot the messenger."

"I would if I were in the mood," Clarisse said. She sighed. "Is it going to be long?"

"Not according to him."

"You can go," Juliet said quietly.

"You're coming with me," Clarisse said. "We need to take off straight away if we're going to make it."

* * *

"I talked to my Dad and he said I was right," Nico explained once they got in the rec room. "What happened this morning was a residual haunting."

"A what?" Pollux asked. Clarisse clucked her tongue. Every question annoyed her, she wanted out.

"A residual haunting," he repeated. "Sometimes spirits don't know that they're dead. They keep living in the world and doing what they would do, or what they had done, when they were alive. Or sometimes they're stuck repeating an event of the past."

"Those were all dead campers?" Connor Stoll. He shivered.

"Yeah," Nico said. "Trust me, it could've been worst. Stuck in the residual haunting of a battle? Not fun. Anyways, the case here was a bit different."

"Different," Miranda Gardner repeated.

"Oh boy." Travis said.

"These weren't ghosts," Nico said. "Not from the Underworld at least."

"Where else do ghosts come from?" Drew scowled.

"Well, given that Kronos has been both reborn and killed in the last fourteen months… It wouldn't be stupid to consider that maybe he'd released a lot of energy. A specific kind of energy since he's a specific Titan: Time Energy."

"Time energy?"

"These weren't a bunch of spirits. They interacted and whatnot. They were a whole community of projections," Nico said. Juliet would have pegged him as a psycho if she'd seen him explaining this paranormal stuff on TV. "Given the evidence my Dad thinks that these people were from a different time stream."

Juliet passed out.

And woke up with her memories.

* * *

It was nearly worst knowing who she was than not knowing.

They wouldn't believe her, but she was sure. She shook like a leaf. Clarisse had had to hold her cup to her lips.

"When Nico mentioned the time streams being misplaced… everything came back to me," she said. She was hugging her knees and keeping a death grip on her voice. "Who I was. My name. Who my parents were… It's too much."

"What do you want us to call you child?" Chiron asked quietly.

"Charlotte Jerusalem," she said.

"Charlotte's a pretty name," Drew said sweetly.

"Is Jerusalem your last name?" Chiron asked.

"No," she said.

"What's your last name, Ju- Charlotte?" Clarisse asked.

She looked up at all of them. Her throat was tight. She wanted to scream. She wanted them to never, ever know. She wanted to tear the memory from her mind and toss it away. But no. The truth slipped from her lips.

"Beckendorf," she said.

* * *

Her name was Charlotte.

Charlotte Jerusalem Beckendorf.

She was fourteen years old, born on February 15th 2016 in New York City. Technically she was fifteen now.

She'd grown up in Brooklyn, spending her summers with her mom or her grandparents, in the chocolate shop, at home, in the office building, and sometimes at all three.

She'd spent her weekends in the garage where Dad kept all the tools and he'd teach their uses and quirks and maintenance to her. She knew drill bits before her alphabet.

She'd spent weekdays with her best friends, Jeremy and Kate. Kate came after school all the time and so would Jeremy, except he didn't want to tell his parents that he was gay and thus be allowed at sleepovers and such.

She and Kate wore matching friendship bracelets. Kate's had been pink and blue and purple, Charlotte's was green and orange and red. She wondered where it'd gone.

They'd dressed up as the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow for Halloween one year. Charlotte had been picking straw out of her hair for weeks afterwards, and Jeremy had gotten into _so _much trouble for all the tinfoil he'd used… but it'd been so cool. Plus Kate had been really cute as a lion and had hooked up with the boy she liked since third grade at the dance. Mom had done their makeup.

_ Mom, _Charlotte choked.

Her mother was Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, Double Agent for Olympus and the Girl Who'd Rallied Cabin Five. That was what her parents had taught her when they'd sat her down and given her the talk about the war, and what she heard around camp every summer. Now Mom was a kindergarten teacher at the elementary school Charlotte had gone to, and she volunteered at the hospital and at an old folk's home on a weekly basis, biweekly in the summer. She was beautiful and fun and spunky and looked about twenty, so people always assumed that Charlotte was the result of a teen pregnancy. Then they judged Mom some more because Charlotte was biracial, but Mom never cared. Mom only cared about the people she loved being happy with what she did in her life. Mom's favourite story to tell was that she and Dad had had to wait until she was twenty to get married because her father insisted- although she wore a promise ring since she was seventeen.

Oh, Dad…

As for Dad (she'd called him nothing but Beckendorf and that felt so weird now) he was happy with his life too. He had a master's degree in mechanical engineering and he worked for an airline, designing airplanes and building prototypes- making aircrafts more ecofriendly, efficient, smooth, quiet… He didn't talk much so Jeremy was scared of him, but Dad had a big heart. And Charlotte had had all of it in her palm as Daddy's Little Girl. Her heart wrenched when he remembered how he was the only one at camp who'd called her Jules. He'd always called her Lottie at home, and nobody else in the world ever had.

Her eyes prickled.

Those two people, the ones she loved and been raised by… they didn't exist anymore. They never had, actually. They were just a possibility, floating around in the cosmos for the fates to consider; an alternative timeline that the fates could still bring into play in the real world if they'd wanted to. One that, because of Kronos, Charlotte had been thrown from and dumped here, in the real world which was much too cruel for her, as Juliet.

* * *

Nobody spoke for a while. Clarisse was the one who turned to Chiron demandingly and said, "What does this mean?"

Chiron was too busy looking at Charlotte with pain in his eyes. She could barely stand to look up at him. He lost enough pupils on a regular basis, it wasn't right after a war that an impossible girl like Charlotte should jump into play. How fair was that?

"Your parents were Silena and Charles?" Chiron asked.

Charlotte nodded. "Yeah. I _did _tell people that I looked nothing at them back home." Her joke didn't make sense.

Everything made sense. The dove with the injured wing? Her knack with automatons? How she didn't belong anywhere? Even Nora's claims back at Christmas that Charlotte was unnatural were granted (not on the racial front, but the other one).

Gods, no wonder they'd been so protective during capture-the-flag or wearing safety goggles in the forge. No wonder they'd taught her how to braid hair or used tools, or freaked out when she'd run away. She was their _daughter. _They were her _parents. _ All along… Even the dragon's reaction to her made sense. It loved Beckendorf and wouldn't attack her exceptionally, just because she was his daughter...

Even the dragon...

"They're dead now," Chiron said. "There is, therefore, no way for Charlotte to ever have been born."

"So she dies," Clarisse said. She got up. "Just like that. Just because."

"She dies," Chiron said.

Drew kicked another infirmary bed, yelled 'bullshit' at the sky and walked out. There wasn't even a rumble of protest.

Clarisse swallowed hard.

"When?" Charlotte asked.

"I don't know," Chiron said. "This has never happened before. Perhaps Will would be able to tell, or Nico…"

"No," Charlotte said. "No, no, no- don't bring other people into this, nobody else can know."

"Why not?" Clarisse said.

"Because it hurts," Charlotte said.

* * *

You could say that she'd had a rough day.

What, with finding out that she'd befriended and then watched her parents die without knowing who they were, realising that her parents had never gotten old enough to marry and have her, and that her entire world was like a Post-It on a fridge to remind you to get milk or give someone a call...

Guess the Fates hadn't needed Charlotte in the world. They should've called to say so instead of doing... well, this.

She blinked away tears whenever she thought about it. That made no sense. No sense at all; because Charlotte's life was nearly too good not to keep.

Like, at Christmas. They did the same thing every year.

They spent the _réveillon _with Grandpapa Beauregard at his place with the rest of the family, who usually flew in from France or Belgium or wherever they lived. It was _nuts, _people got so drunk, the food was always fantastic, they had a giant gift exchange going, and the Christmas tree was always humongous and covered in lights and candles and candy canes and decorations made by various five year olds... They went to bed at, like, four in the morning_._

Charlotte would drag her parents out of bed in the morning about three to four hours after crashing post-_réveillon_, and they'd open presents. Dad always stuck the bows from her presents in Mom's hair, and although she complained every year, Charlotte had never seen Mom take a single one out. They stayed there until they fell off later in the day, sometimes lasting until supper.

After presents, Mom made muffins and they drove down to Grandma's apartment to eat them, opened more presents, and watched old Christmas movies from when her parents had been little. They weren't even in 3D or ultraviolet, so that was weird.

Grandma had immigrated to the US after getting her degree in architecture, and so she didn't quite follow Christmas traditions like everybody else. She hung the Christmas lights a bit everywhere around the apartment, not bothering with a tree. Even the bathroom looked particularly pretty in the holidays. Dad had built her figurines to a Christmas village that took up her breakfast nook. Grandma liked angels, and so there were angel figurines everywhere too. And Christmas stockings- Mom didn't think it was Christmas without Christmas stockings and so Grandma had one for everyone.

They'd have Christmas baking for lunch and too much for supper, when her grandma and the great-aunt she'd been named after, Aunt Jerusalem, would make all these Ethiopian dishes. Charlotte and her parents practically rolled home after Christmas supper. Of course, they brought home as much food as they could carry, and would even if Grandma didn't insist on it. The microwave ran overtime in December, and they were packing away _tibs _and _kifto _and stews way past New Year's- when Grandma made another batch of food.

If the amount of spicy food, drunken singing, smiles, angels, stories retold and Christmas lights was not enough to make the world want to keep the timeline intact… Charlotte didn't know what was.

But clearly it wasn't. And so that was going to die too.

Just like her parents had.

* * *

"I don't get it," Clarisse said.

"What don't you get? It's simple. I don't belong here. This is a mistake. I don't exist. I die." Charlotte said. She tried not to sound bitter but it was hard.

"No," Clarisse said. "I don't get why you parents named you Charlotte if your Dad's name was Charles."

Charlotte exhaled. Her shoulders sagged.

"My Grandma dibsed naming the firstborn," Charlotte said. "Since every firstborn boy in the family was called Charles and she wanted to make sure that the tradition continued. My Grandpa dibsed naming the second one. I came out a girl but my Grandma was really stuck on the tradition, and Granpapa was getting the next one... well, she settled for Charlotte."

Clarisse grinned.

Chiron excused himself.

* * *

It was nearly worst knowing who she was than not knowing.

What did she like? She liked spending time in the garage with her dad and antiques and old objects and architecture and watching old movies with her mom.

She liked wearing jeans and boy shirts scrunched up in the back with elastics and earrings and nice, colourful sneakers.

She hated most Top 40 music and liked reading books even if she was a slow reader- but she read classics or child fiction, never YA fiction.

She liked her friends and that boy who sat in the row in front of her in math class- but she wouldn't even say his name now because that way she'd have to remember him and remember their relationship and it would break her heart more. Besides, he'd promised never to break her heart.

What was she like?

She was a hard worker, a perceptive person, a girl who could go from extrovert to introvert in a matter of seconds. That much she'd figured out about herself at camp.

She was great yet she hated at oral presentations, adored math, couldn't draw for the life of her, hated English class, and would rather impale herself on a stick than go to science. She had been in the school's Lego Robotics club since it'd been formed.

She didn't care what other people said anymore because of her mom's undying support.

She loved her family and hated it at the same time and that was the best kind of family.

And it wasn't even real.

* * *

She didn't come out of the infirmary. Clarisse and Jake had brainstormed excuses, Lacy and Pollux had helped once Charlotte had broken the news to them, and Drew hadn't walked back into the Big House since swearing at the heavens and storming out. They weren't going to tell the truth to anybody else but Chris, who was on a need-to-know basis seeing as he was Clarisse's boyfriend.

They were going to tell people that Juliet had reconnected with her folks. As it turned out, she wasn't a demigod at all, she was a clear-sighted mortal. Spending too much time in a magical place had made her sick.

Nobody was going to know that there'd been a slim chance all along that Silena and Beckendorf may have had a chance.

In a matter of days, there wouldn't be any proof.

* * *

_Charlotte opened the box and gasped. Music came out of it. Instead of a tiny dancer spinning around in front of a mirror, a tiny flock of sheep walked through an apple orchard, disappeared into the box, and emerged again in a loop. Tiny birds hung down from the box' lid and they dipped above the orchard. _

_"Do you like it?" Dad asked._

_"Daddy it's beautiful," Charlotte said. She had a lot of windup toys. She was intrigued by them, and whenever she'd take them apart to see what would happen- Daddy put them back together since he'd been the one to build them for her in the first place. He'd made her carousels, solar systems, her baby mobiles… _

_"Touch the birds," he said. Charlotte didn't discuss it. The second Charlotte's outstretched finger so much as grazed the little bird, it started singing. She giggled and tried touching a few of them. They all had a different song, and they all overlapped each other. She giggled some more._

_ She climbed into his lap and snuggled up against his chest. At six year's old, she could still do that easily. It was at ten that she started growing. Ten was when the going got tough._

_"No more sassy answers when we tell you to count sheep now," Dad said._

_ And he never did get more of those. Charlotte would just open the music box and count the sheep as the soothing music lulled her to sleep. _

"Charlotte. Charlotte."

She sprung upright. Clarisse was sitting right next to her.

"You were… having a nightmare," she explained.

Charlotte rubbed her face. Her cheeks were wet, and when she realised how much she was shaking and how raw from screaming her throat was- she cried some more.

"My memories are becoming nightmares," she said between two sobs. "Even the happiness in them is dying."

* * *

_When Charlotte was little, she didn't really talk a lot. She pointed at things she wanted, liked, or wanted explanations for._

_She'd pointed to a picture of her parents one day. They were at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Dad was wearing a nice suit, which had always been a silly thing to wear at gardens in Charlotte's head. Mom was wearing a simple and strapless white high-low dress with little jewels on the top part. Her hair was twisted around a bejeweled flower that had been made for her by an in-law, ringlets dropping around her face. She was wearing just a little makeup, as per usual, but something made her look stunning._

_Dad talked about glowing every time she pointed at the picture and Mom talked about weddings._

A dream about something like that shouldn't have made her cry at all.

* * *

Her health was spiraling.

She didn't belong in the world anymore; her mind was trying to shut itself off but only gave her migraines in the process.

She wasn't meant to see this world, this alternative time frame. Her vision was quitting.

She wasn't aligned with this time frame, her coordination was slipping.

She was _literally _being kicked out of this world.

* * *

**December**

_Dad was making fun of them for picking chocolate ice cream when the little store they'd stopped at had fifty flavours. He was munching on Banana Split Pie himself. Mom told him that at least she knew what she liked and stuck to it, which always made him shut up. _

_Mom and Charlotte were wearing dark purple dresses, the exact same colour, with a white ribbon around the waist. Dad joked that they must be the most elegantly dressed ice cream cravers in the world. Really it was just that they'd been at Aunt Lacy's wedding all day and hadn't been able to get their hands on the stuff sooner. _

_It was nearly midnight and they ate their ice cream in the car, where there was light, music and air conditioning- the three staples of summer according to Mom. The little booth had closed ten minutes after they'd gotten their cones. _

Juliet was snapped out of her daydream.

"Bullshit," Pollux called.

"Damn it," Lacy whined as she picked up the pile of cards in the middle. Charlotte's cards were on her lap and the dragonfly would put put them on the table for her. When she got called out for bullshitting and it was actually just because she couldn't read the card, she let it fly. Her limbs had decided to quit their day jobs and become jelly. Most of her was at that point. Like her body had decided, _hmm Charlotte- well, seeing as I'm not supposed to be in this particular universe I guess that it's not my problem if you can't operate in it. Peace out. _

"I can always tell when you lie, why do you even try?" Pollux said with a smile on his lips.

"Because I will get you one day, I swear to the gods," Lacy said.

Charlotte smiled.

"You two will keep dating, right?" She said.

They both looked at her stunned. It did come a bit out of nowhere.

"After I die," Charlotte said. "You two keep dating, alright?"

Pollux and Lacy looked at each other. They were smiling a bit.

"Alright," she said.

"Geez," Pollux said turning towards Lacy. "Well, I guess we promised it now. Can't break a promise."

It was so cheesy, Charlotte repressed a gag. And a smile.

* * *

She woke up and Clarisse looked about ready to cry when Charlotte mumble 'morning'.

"It's the middle after noon three days after you fell asleep," she informed her.

"Good afternoon," Charlotte said to try and cheer her up.

Clarisse snickered. "Punk."

* * *

She woke up clutching the blankets. No, not the blankets, a hand…

"Do you want to go watch a movie instead of pointlessly trying to sleep, kid?" Clarisse asked.

Charlotte nodded and let herself get wrapped in a blanket and carried out of the rec room.

She wasn't being treated like a doll anymore. Charlotte guessed that everyone had made peace with her death now, and that the idea that she should just do all the stuff that she could do now.

* * *

Chiron sat with her while Clarisse went and blew off some steam in the arena. She'd be unstoppable.

Charlotte looked at Chiron. The centaur had always stroked her as sad, even back home. But he looked sadder now.

"You were at their wedding," Charlotte blurted.

Chiron looked up.

"My mom and dads. They have pictures. They were crouching on each side of you, in your wheelchair," Charlotte said.

_You sat where the father of the groom sat. You were my godfather. You babysat me when I was too young to wipe the drool off my chin. _

Chiron nodded.

"I love weddings," he said.

"You'll get some," Charlotte promised. "Just... not this one I guess."

Chiron met her eyes. "You're such a bright young woman. Your parents lent you their strongest traits."

_Dying young? _Charlotte thought.

* * *

The conversation she was having with Clarisse was interrupted quite rudely when Jake, Pollux and Lacy walked in.

"Happy birthday Charlotte," they were singing.

"What?" She muttered. Even Clarisse joined in. She was in on it. They were ganging up on her.

"Happy birthday Charlotte. Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday Charlotte," they sang. Lacy was holding a cake with a dragonfly drawn on it with icing.

"You said it was in February," Pollux said. "We felt pretty horrible about missing it."

That was the last good day. See, Charlotte had been having good days and bad days and it was hard to tell what was going to come.

That day, she pretended to blow out candles that weren't on the cake and got carried off to the back porch, curled up in a blanket. Everyone was at a campfire, and so they sat on the back porch with citronella candles and lanterns lit without a single fear of being spotted. The air quality was nothing like what came through the window, it felt _so good. _

They ate cake with their fingers and Pollux smashed Lacy's face in a piece- which was priceless in about a dozen ways. Jake took a jar from his pocket and released automaton fireflies into the air for her. She loved those. They hadn't gotten her presents, there was nothing that she needed, and it was fine. The cake was good enough. Super sweet, just like Charlotte's taste buds craved stuff. They played Bullshit outside and Pollux and Lacy even managed to take her for a short walk. It wasn't much, but Charlotte was thrilled to be stretching her legs. The grass was soft under her socks and the air was fresh in her lungs. All of her sense kind of crept back into play curiously- she smelled the grass, heard the crickets and twigs under feet, felt the cold hair on her skin, tasted the lingering sugar in her mouth... The attacking bubbles melted in with the night. It was like she wasn't sick for a few minutes.

That was the best birthday present she'd ever gotten.

But part of her had gotten the memo from the universe. A small tap on the shoulder and a whispered _hey, we're going to have to kill you off eventually but we're just going to give you another day where your bodily functions are decent beforehand. Cool? Cool._

She prayed that the others couldn't see it, but Charlotte knew all along that it was the last good day.

* * *

She was right about that. Opening her eyelids was like opening Pandora's box. Headaches, nausea, dizziness- you name it, it happened. She spoke very quietly and everyone around her hushed up too, as if she was a maestro setting tempo and beat.

They stayed with her all day. Didn't do much, though; not until Lacy found something that she'd said she'd been looking for, apparently, for a while now.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. That was the book that Silena had read to her when she'd gotten the flu. Harry Potter... That had just been a book for scholars back where Charlotte was from. That was one thing about the time stream that could _definitely _be eliminated.

And so the book got passed from hand to hand and they each read a couple of pages before making someone else read. Juliet tried but her eyes just weren't in the mood to function and the energy it took to focus did more bad than good. "Another time," Lacy had proposed weakly. Weakly, and she knew it.

"Damn, this is actually pretty good," Pollux said.

"Who knew?" Lacy said. "Decent books are made."

Lunch and supper were brought to them. Charlotte didn't want to eat. Even drinking seemed like too much, she was sure that it'd fill up her throat and choke her.

After a while, Lacy had to go- Cabin Ten hadn't been too happy about her abrupt departure and if suspicion was aroused… They were screwed. Already she'd heard whispers that Drew seemed on the edge of cracking.

Lacy hugged her, and Charlotte found the strength to hug back. Not as tightly as she'd have liked, but it was a hug. Lacy smiled.

"I'll wear that cosplay dress eventually, you know," she said.

"Hope so," Charlotte said.

Pollux was the only guy in his cabin, he could stay here anytime. Chris was a child of Hermes; he could slip in wherever he felt like going. Clarisse was head counsellor, nobody told her what to do.

Charlotte loved them all for being there, even though they did have to leave for the night eventually.

Pollux hugged her.

"I'm so glad we met," Pollux said.

Charlotte wasn't. She was sorry to break his heart by dying and sorry to break hers, but she said 'mmm-hmm'. Chris deemed her as 'not bad at all' and squeezed her shoulder. He kissed Clarisse and held onto her for a long, long time before leaving.

The latter stayed with Charlotte. She starred at the ceiling's stippling, not even registering the headache as painful anymore- more as regular. Kind of like you got used to breathing or feeling an itchy sweater over her skin. Gods, it was her time to go...

"You can make constellations out of the dots," she said quietly.

"Can you?" Clarisse said. She couldn't have much interest in stars, but she tried. Bless her.

"Yeah," she said. The words had exhausted her. A complete sentence… She was breathless for a long time.

"Charlotte," Clarisse said when she heard the faltering in her breathing. She panicked a bit. "Charlotte!"

"I'm okay Aunt Clarisse," Charlotte said quickly, to try and hide how much of a lie that was.

Oh gods. She'd slipped. She'd slipped, she'd slipped, she'd slipped…

She'd promised not to tell anyone anything about the future. She'd bear the memories alone. Nobody had asked her anything, out of fear or respect or wisdom she didn't know. But this… this was her own fault.

Clarisse stiffened and Charlotte didn't have a choice but to say more.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be. Not your fault."

"You always did take care of me," Charlotte said. That wasn't even close to accurate. When she was seven and Dad got smacked into a coma for two months by a hellhound- she'd basically _lived _at Clarisse's house. When she'd gotten broken up with in seventh grade via text message –it was nothing now, but back then she'd been heartbroken- Aunt Clarisse had emptied her freezer of all the ice cream and dropped it at home.

"Did I? Good." Clarisse said. She brushed Charlotte's hair out of her face, nearly making her cry.

"Clarisse?"

"You can call me Aunt Clarisse if it makes you feel better," she said.

"Aunt Clarisse?"

"Yes Charlotte?"

"I'm scared."

"Are you?"

"Yeah," Charlotte said.

Clarisse lay down in bed with her, an arm around her and her blankets.

* * *

_I'd say that that was the last thing that Charlotte remembered, but that's not true._

_Spirits remember._

_People who never existed don't._


End file.
